1526 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 



to destructive fires. On dune areas that are being stabilized, well- 

 nigh perfect fire control should be maintained, because of the danger 

 of loss of the cover. 



In spite of the fact that their productive value is low, a considerable 

 portion of the dune lands will be held for private development, largely 

 as recreation areas or as estates. On such areas the use of fire should 

 be closely restricted, cutting should be restricted to the removal of 

 dead wood, and grazing use should be very closely restricted or 

 entirely eliminated. Where feasible, dune lands should be taken into 

 public ownership ; only in exceptional cases can private ownership be 

 expected to provide the type of management and protection required. 

 Usually these areas have exceedingly high value for recreation, and the 

 two purposes of soil fixation and recreation often can be served best 

 through public control. Usually, Federal ownership should not be 

 necessary. 



NORTHEASTERN DRAINAGES 



The Catskill, Adirondack, Green, and White Mountain watersheds 

 involve about 40 million acres of timberland in the northeastern 

 drainages, including the St. Lawrence drainage below the Great Lakes. 

 Here domestic and industrial water supplies are the major reasons 

 for concern, because of unusually heavy concentrations of population. 

 The metropolitan centers have a population of more than 15 million 

 and require more than 2 billion gallons of water daily. Some 25 per- 

 cent of the Nation's developed water-power capacity is in the North- 

 east, and the commercial tonnage shipped on the principal rivers of 

 the region exceeds that on the Mississippi between New Orleans and 

 Minneapolis. Flood control is likewise of great importance. 



Originally this area was a continuous forest; at present only 54 

 percent of it is classified as forested, and a very large part of the 

 forest that remains is badly deteriorated. Reduction of soil fertility 

 by continuous cropping and by erosion from cultivated fields, and 

 the settlement of better agricultural areas in the West, have caused 

 the abandonment during the last two decades alone of more than 10 

 million acres of agricultural land in the northeastern drainages. Some 

 sort of natural vegetative cover quickly establishes itself on cut-over 

 land or abandoned farm land where the soil is not disturbed, pre- 

 venting destructive erosion. 



Because of the great value of the forests of these drainages as a 

 source of metropolitan water supplies, and because of the navigability 

 of many of the streams and their importance in the industrial and 

 economic life of the region, much land in the rougher sections of 

 New England and New York should be in public ownership. Great 

 watershed-protection and recreational values would thus be maintained 

 or increased. The States included have not only a great concentration 

 of population but also in some cases a great concentration of wealth. 

 Therefore the necessity for Federal assistance in watershed protection 

 is less pronounced than in most other regions of the East. Certainly 

 the Federal Government should at least acquire ample land to 

 demonstrate proper management "for watershed protection. 



New York now owns 2% million acres of watershed land and is 

 acquiring an additional million acres. Some 350 cities of New York 

 now own watershed forests. Cities and towns of Massachusetts own 

 more than 25,000 acres of such forests; Newark, N.J., has a watershed 



